Page 20 of Colton’s Inferno

They walked from the waiting room toward the front entrance. A set of automatic doors opened with a whoosh. Together, they stepped outside. The air was cold, and the abrasions on his skin burned anew. A metal roof covered the sidewalk. Inset lights shone onto the concrete in pools. Several insects flitted in the glow. At this time of night, the parking lot was almost empty. In one of the back rows, headlights blazed to life.

“That’s him,” said Lucy, pointing toward the vehicle.

“I’d like to see you again,” said Aiden, his words surprising him as he spoke. Then again, he was just saying what he wanted to say from the first time he saw Lucy.

“Of course,” Lucy said, folding her arms across her chest. “Knock on the door when you come by tomorrow morning. I’ll have a fresh pot of coffee waiting.” She paused. “You do drink coffee, right?”

“Coffee’s great,” he said. “But I’d like to see you, as in see you.” He emphasized the last two words.

The silence stretched out, as endless as the night. The truck driven by Rusty started to roll forward.

“I’m not sure,” she said as the truck turned onto the lane leading to the front of the hospital. “I’ve had some pretty bad setbacks recently. More even than the fire tonight. I won’t be good company for anyone—especially you.”

Before he could say anything else, the truck pulled up next to the curb and stopped.

For the most part, Aiden knew that if someone told you who they were you should believe them. There was also Ted’s warning. But as Lucy opened the door to the truck, Aiden knew that none of that mattered. He’d had a reaction to her from just one touch and he needed to know why.

Chapter 6

Grandpa Rusty sat in the driver’s seat with both hands on the steering wheel. Lucy was on the bench seat next to him. The truck drove down the deserted streets of Red Grove. “That Aiden Colton is an impressive guy. Strong. Brave. Kind. Handsome, if I can say so.”

“You can say if you think a man is handsome,” she assured him.

The truck rolled to a stop at a traffic light. It switched from red to green and Rusty pulled forward. “What do you think about him?”

Honestly, Lucy thought that Aiden was one of the best people she’d ever met. Which begged the question, what did he want with her? She wasn’t one of those pretty or bubbly kind of women. She liked the company of horses and cattle more than she liked people—aside from Grandpa Rusty. Hell, she rarely left the ranch. All she did was work. In fact, her palms had so many calluses that they were like a stone that had been smoothed by years in the river.

“He seems pretty terrific,” she said as the town of Red Grove disappeared in the rearview mirror.

“You should go on a date with him,” he said.

She snorted a laugh. “First, you want me to date Ted Barrett—the freaking mayor. And now, you want me to date some guy who’s closer to a superhero than an actual person.”

“First, don’t say freaking. It’s too close to a curse word. And second, what’s wrong with dating Ted or Aiden?”

“I’m not Ted’s type,” she said. “He’s too slick to want some ranch hand like me. Besides, he’s Aiden’s brother. Not a blood brother. But Ted grew up with Aiden’s family.”

Lucy leaned her head on the window. The night stretched out all around them. The darkness turned the window into a mirror. She watched her reflection. Honestly, she didn’t know what Aiden had seen in her.

“What about Aiden?” asked her grandfather, as if he’d been listening to her internal chatter. “Why don’t you go out on a date with him?”

There was no way she could tell Grandpa that Aiden had asked her out. If she did, then he would pester her until she agreed to go out. “Why are you pushing all these men on me?”

“I’m not going to be here forever, Lucy. I want to see you settled. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

His words hit her like a punch to the gut. It stole her breath and left her queasy. Lucy and Rusty had been a team for years. “Well, you aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.”

“Even more than seeing you settled,” said Grandpa Rusty, as if she hadn’t even spoken, “I don’t like that you’re letting your youth slip away. You should be doing more than spending time with an old man and a bunch of livestock.”

Her brother, Derek, was the one who craved excitement. He’d used alcohol to escape the monotony of ranch life. Someone had given him a pill—a party drug, they’d called it. From that first time, he was hooked. It wasn’t long before he’d overdosed.

Lucy never knew if the pill, laced with fentanyl, had been an accident. Or if Derek’s so-called friend had meant to turn him into an addict all along. Either way, the world outside of the ranch wasn’t to be trusted.

“The fire chief thinks that kids got into the barn and were smoking. That’s what started the fire,” she added, as if that possibility proved her point.

“I guess that’s a risk we ran in letting the carnival rent our land for the long weekend.”

“I guess,” she said, letting out a long breath.